Crime fiction set in WYOMING and MONTANA
A Great Thriller set on the COSTA DEL SOL
7th August 2024
Black Wolf by Juan Gómez-Jurado, a great thriller set on the Costa Del Sol – translated by Nick Caistor and Lorenza Garcia.
Black Wolf is a brilliant page-turning thriller set on the Costa Del Sol in Southern Spain. A mid-ranking Russian mafioso has been murdered. There are fears of a gang war and two undercover detectives from Madrid, Antonia Scott and Jon Gutiérrez, are sent down to help the local police. Antonia has been compared to Lisbeth Salander and it is not a bad reference. Jon is gay and from the Basque country – they are an unlikely, unconventional, but effective pairing. They work in very different ways, but complement each other. The wife of the murdered gangster, Lola, is on the run for her life with our two detectives, the local police, and the mafia all trying to find her. No one is quite sure what her role is and why she is so important. Is she running because she is frightened or because she has something to hide? Black Wolf, a female assassin with a deadly reputation, has been hired by the Russians to track her down.
The main part of the story describes Lola’s life on the run and Antonia and Jon’s efforts to locate her. They at times seem to be working with the local police and at times in competition with them. The relationship is tense. There are dead bodies scattered about, and this goes against the local police ethos of trying to keep everything calmed down and under control.
The climax of the story is a deadly gun battle in an old house high up in the mountains above the Costa del Sol. It is snowing heavily and everyone – good and bad – is fighting for their life. The adrenaline is certainly flowing!
Juan Gómez-Jurado has been described as one of Spain’s three greatest living authors alongside Javier Sierra and Carlos Ruiz Záfron. This is praise indeed, but well deserved. Black Wolf is a great read.
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